Supervisor Connie Chan announced Thursday that she is running to succeed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in Congress (opens in new tab) next year, an expected move that could meld various influential San Francisco voting blocs: the west side, Asian Americans citywide, and progressives.
Chan, who was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to San Francisco’s Chinatown at 13, would be the first Asian American to represent San Francisco in Congress. In an interview with The Standard on Wednesday, she said she would bring her progressive Democratic values to fight for working-class people and leverage the might of the federal government to help vulnerable residents.
“This is an unprecedented time,” said Chan, 47, over a cup of rooibos tea at Andytown Coffee Roasters in the Outer Richmond. “The very people that need our protection are being attacked by the government.”
She said she was inspired to run after watching President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns, and his attacks on the LGTBQ community, people of color, and women, along with his cuts to food and healthcare benefits that have disproportionately harmed middle- and low-income earners.
Since she was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2020 to represent District 1, which includes the Richmond District and other west-side neighborhoods, Chan has become one of San Francisco’s most prominent progressives. Her legislative record includes raising awareness on hate crimes against Asian Americans, advocating for more affordable housing, and strengthening tenants’ rights, among other priorities championed by the city’s influential labor unions.
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“I have been a strong voice for our community,” Chan said. “I can fight for those progressive values, our San Francisco values, but I’m still able to negotiate to bring back and deliver the resources San Francisco needs.”
Chan joins two other prominent contenders for the seat, which Pelosi has held for nearly four decades: state Sen. Scott Wiener and tech millionaire Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive former Stripe engineer who helped elect New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez to Congress before serving as her chief of staff. Former Mayor London Breed was previously weighing a bid for the seat, but said Wednesday that she would not launch a campaign.
No contender has yet clinched Pelosi’s endorsement, though Chan is considered the frontrunner to earn the two-time House Speaker’s support.
Wiener is expected to dominate the moderate lane in the race and snap up endorsements from the city’s Democratic establishment and pro-housing YIMBY forces. Chan and Chakrabarti run the risk of splitting the progressive vote, though Chan points to her years of government experience as an advantage.
As supervisor and chair of the influential budget committee, she worked with Mayor Daniel Lurie to create a $400 million reserve to defend against Trump administration cuts to social services like Medicare and Medicaid.
She and Lurie have developed a cordial relationship, an unusual occurrence in San Francisco City Hall, where moderates and progressives often fight as viciously as Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
That alliance came in handy this summer, when Chan helped broker a deal during contentious budget negotiations as the city faced a historic deficit reaching roughly $800 million. While Lurie had pushed for layoffs of some city workers, he and Chan worked toward a compromise that helped save dozens of City Hall positions.
“It wasn’t easy,” Chan said. But it was also the perfect testing ground for a politician who may enter the national scene when Democrats have less leverage.
“I know that I can bring that very same experience, the same know-how, and skill sets to D.C. to be able to build a coalition,” Chan said.
Another advantage may be Chan’s connections to the city’s Asian American community, including in her district, and other neighborhoods like Chinatown and the Sunset. Chan’s close ties stem from her immigration experience, when she squeezed into a small Chinatown apartment with multiple family members. Chan, her mother, and aunt took one bedroom, and her brother and uncle took the living room.
Her family didn’t have much means, but the community provided. She often frequented Portsmouth Square, known as Chinatown’s living room, where people play cards and practice tai chi; the banquet hall at the Empress of China; and the fancy Hilton Hotel that is home to the Chinese Culture Center.
“My Chinatown childhood experience … it was great,” she said.
Chan’s foray into the Congressional race is sure to garner opposition from the city’s YIMBY factions and other moderate groups, which have accused her of blocking much-needed development and criticized her previous position to restructure the police department in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
But Chan’s policy priorities have also earned her support from progressive organizations across the city, including groups that take issue with state mandates to build more housing. Chan has most recently earned accolades for her fight to block key elements of Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan, which aims to foster the construction of thousands more housing units throughout the city over the next several years.
Chan’s housing positions could give her an edge in certain parts of San Francisco over Wiener, a leader in California’s YIMBY movement who has far less support within the city’s historically development-averse west side.
Hene Kelly, who lives in the Richmond and is an active member of the local Democratic Party, applauded Chan’s pushback against the housing proposal (opens in new tab) and the supervisor’s demands for more tenant protections in the blueprint.
“She basically read every fucking word on that 450-page thing Lurie put out,” Kelly said. “She has tried to talk to him about what this means to people, and how he can get the buildings built without all that upzoning in different areas of the city.”
Kelly, a longtime organizer with the San Francisco Labor Council, also said Chan has worked hard to build support within the city’s unions and their working-class members.
“Of all the people I know in politics, she’s the one really that has …worked with almost every labor union that needs anything,” Kelly said. “She’s a toughie. She doesn’t look like a toughie, but I wouldn’t cross her.”
A graduate of Galileo High School, Chan earned her bachelor’s degree from UC Davis, double-majoring in comparative religion and classical Chinese before working as a community organizer and volunteer interpreter for the San Francisco BAR Association.
Chan said she decided to jump into politics after working as an interpreter on a case defending an elderly Chinese man and his roommate whom he claimed as his brother against eviction. The landlord contended they weren’t related, and therefore were in violation of the lease. But Chan helped translate the sensitive cultural dynamic, explaining that the two men were from the same rural village and therefore considered each other brothers — successfully sparing them from eviction.
“I was, like, okay, I can do more. I can do more than just this basic, translating, interpreting,” she said. “There’s more that can be done and should be done.”
Chan then joined City Hall as former Supervisor Sophie Maxwell’s legislative aide in 2006, before moving to the office of ex-Board President Aaron Peskin, who remains an influential mentor. Chan also worked for Kamala Harris when she was district attorney, and former Assemblymember Kevin Mullin, who now represents the South Bay in Congress.
But Chan’s transition from staffer to elected wasn’t easy. She narrowly defeated Marjan Philhour in 2020 for her supervisorial seat, eking out a win by 125 votes. She bested Philhour again in another tight match in 2024, during which moderate political groups spent $200,000 against Chan and labor unions contributed at least $800,000 in her defense (opens in new tab).
Cliff Yee, a lifelong Richmond District resident, said Chan is a representative who sees what neighbors need and delivers results for them.
“Speaker Pelosi’s decades of service will be hard to replace,” Yee said, adding that he was “supportive and excited about the possibility of Connie continuing to lead.”
Chan acknowledged Pelosi would be a tough act to follow — but she’s up to the challenge.
“We start from day one,” Chan said.